"Ripple Effects" in Youth Peacebuilding and Exchange Programs: Measuring Impacts Beyond Direct Participants

A number of organizations have a mission of encouraging peace throughout the world by enhancing young people's knowledge and understanding of other countries and cultures. One strategy used to further this mission is international or intercultural exchange programs. Most evaluations of exchange programs gather data only from the direct participants who traveled to another country. But these programs have the potential to have impacts that expand beyond the direct participants—or "ripple effects." Thus, a more appropriate methodology to evaluate exchange programs is "360-degree feedback," which gathers data from multiple sources. This study uses 360-degree feedback to evaluate a youth peacebuilding and exchange program by gathering data not only from the exchange students but also from chaperones, host families, and students and teachers in the host school. ANOVA analyses finds that the program had positive impacts on the exchange students and, in many cases, even greater ripple effects on indirect participants.     

Does Regionalism Beget Regionalism? The Relationship between Norms and Regional Partnerships for Economic Development

Social scientists traditionally have described local governments as competing with each other for residents and businesses. But in a number of metropolitan areas in the United States, local governmental officials have formed groups voluntarily to enhance the economic development of multijurisdictional areas. This article develops a theory that asserts the key determinants of the formation of these regional partnerships for economic development are cooperative norms—or a tradition of regional cooperation—and need. The theory also posits that norms influence regional partnerships' organizational structure and processes. Hypotheses are tested empirically using data from all metropolitan areas in the United States and responses to a national survey of regional partnerships for economic development. Results provide some support for the theory that norms and need are both positively related to the formation of regional partnerships for economic development. Support is weak that norms are related the organizational characteristics of regional partnerships for economic development.     

Toward Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regional Partnerships for Economic Development in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

During the past few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of regional partnerships in the United States to enhance economic development across local government jurisdictions. This trend has been mirrored by an increase in regional organizations in Europe, Asia and South America to enhance economic development, usually across national boundaries. While the literature has examined the formation, structure and activities of regional partnerships for economic development in the United States, this is the first study that attempts to measure their effectiveness across a large number of geographical areas using quantitative methods. The findings provide some evidence of their effectiveness in that there is a positive and significant relationship between regional partnerships and employment; the relationship between regional partnerships and income is positive but insignificant. This study may be informative in the further study of regional economic development organizations in other countries as well as regional partnerships and organizations in other policy arenas.